Hm, I've been looking in the preview of Classical Japanese: A Grammar on Google Books, and it's saying that なむ follows the 未然形 (well, actually where I saw it, it was saying that なむ was one of the things that could follow the 未然形.) Don't know how that works out with the copula...

richvh wrote:Hm, I've been looking in the preview of Classical Japanese: A Grammar on Google Books, and it's saying that なむ follows the 未然形 (well, actually where I saw it, it was saying that なむ was one of the things that could follow the 未然形.) Don't know how that works out with the copula...

I am not aware of any なむ that can follow a 未然形 -- what page is this on?

(Now, this なむ might actually be な (未然形 of the completion/realized state particle ぬ) plus む (conjecture/intention suffix), rather than the emphatic particle なむ.)

Yudan Taiteki wrote:Even if the ありける is there, に is still a 連用形 copula. なり is a contraction of にあり, but the に can come back out when the copula is "clefted" with something like なむ. になむありける is equivalent to なりける.

Gotcha. It looks like it has to be the emphatic なむ, because if it were the なむ of な (perfective) + む (speculation/intention), the meaning would have to be "strong certainty about the future," "strong intention," or "appropriateness," and none of those seem to fit here. Shirane does say that the perfective ぬ follows the 連用形 though, not the 未然形.

Question: since に seems to be a variant 連用形 of なり, are なりぬ and にぬ interchangeable, and/or is one more common than the other? (Sorry to hijack, just a quick question.)

Translation:Therefore, warriors who owed their loyalty to Mochiuji and who would not give up their honor even in death, with Satomi Suemoto prominent among them, gathered without invitation, and since they were defending Yuuki Castle, while it was surrounded by the great army, it was for a while not taken.

What's the function of the はせ in 招かざれどもはせ集まりて? I assume that the katakana ト in 一トたび is indicating that it should be read ひとたび rather than いちたび.

Translation:Since they held out in the castle for 3 years, from the spring of the eleventh year of the Eikyou era to the second month of the first year of the Kakitsu era, and there were no more reinforcements, their provisions and arrows were exhausted.

Translation:Therefore, warriors who owed their loyalty to Mochiuji and who would not give up their honor even in death, with Satomi Suemoto prominent among them, gathered without invitation, and since they were defending Yuuki Castle, while it was surrounded by the great army, it was for a while not taken.

ひとたびも＝一度も, right? If so, then the castle wasn't taken even once, and the ながら would sound to me like "despite being surrounded by the great army." In other words, all these warriors came even though nobody sent out the call for them, and thanks to their speedy arrival, their side didn't suffer a single defeat, despite being under siege by a great host.

[Disclaimer: my previous disclaimer about my contribution being all guesses remains in force. I'm just here to learn from the discussion.]

Translation:Since they held out in the castle for 3 years, from the spring of the eleventh year of the Eikyou era to the second month of the first year of the Kakitsu era, and there were no more reinforcements, their provisions and arrows were exhausted.

What's the ものから's function?

Koujien has two definitions for ものから:1. ではあるが2. のでIt's probably 2 here -- because the siege extended to 3 years, they ran out of supplies and arrows.

Translation:Saying, "There is now no way for us to escape. Let us just die together," the whole Yuuki clan, and Lord Satomi with his vassals, opened the gates and fought a bloody battle, tossing around the enemies that pressed in, nearly all were killed, and finally the castle fell. The two princes were captured and executed at Tarui in Mino. This is what the world calls the battle of Yuuki.

Yudan Taiteki wrote:It's probably 2 here -- because the siege extended to 3 years, they ran out of supplies and arrows.

Another reason to think 2 applies here is because the entry in Kojien has a Manyoshu example for 1, which would make it Nara grammar (which is so different that it has its own separate section in Shirane), whereas 2 states: